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Lu G, Ni E, Jiang Y, Wu W, Li H. Room-Temperature Liquid Metals for Flexible Electronic Devices. Small 2024; 20:e2304147. [PMID: 37875665 DOI: 10.1002/smll.202304147] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2023] [Revised: 07/26/2023] [Indexed: 10/26/2023]
Abstract
Room-temperature gallium-based liquid metals (RT-GaLMs) have garnered significant interest recently owing to their extraordinary combination of fluidity, conductivity, stretchability, self-healing performance, and biocompatibility. They are ideal materials for the manufacture of flexible electronics. By changing the composition and oxidation of RT-GaLMs, physicochemical characteristics of the liquid metal can be adjusted, especially the regulation of rheological, wetting, and adhesion properties. This review highlights the advancements in the liquid metals used in flexible electronics. Meanwhile related characteristics of RT-GaLMs and underlying principles governing their processing and applications for flexible electronics are elucidated. Finally, the diverse applications of RT-GaLMs in self-healing circuits, flexible sensors, energy harvesting devices, and epidermal electronics, are explored. Additionally, the challenges hindering the progress of RT-GaLMs are discussed, while proposing future research directions and potential applications in this emerging field. By presenting a concise and critical analysis, this paper contributes to the advancement of RT-GaLMs as an advanced material applicable for the new generation of flexible electronics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guixuan Lu
- Key Laboratory for Liquid-Solid Structural Evolution and Processing of Materials (Ministry of Education), School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, 250061, China
| | - Erli Ni
- The Institute for Advanced Studies of Wuhan University, Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei, 430072, China
| | - Yanyan Jiang
- Key Laboratory for Liquid-Solid Structural Evolution and Processing of Materials (Ministry of Education), School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, 250061, China
| | - Weikang Wu
- Key Laboratory for Liquid-Solid Structural Evolution and Processing of Materials (Ministry of Education), School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, 250061, China
| | - Hui Li
- Key Laboratory for Liquid-Solid Structural Evolution and Processing of Materials (Ministry of Education), School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, 250061, China
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Liu S, Xu Z, Li G, Li Z, Ye Z, Xu Z, Chen W, Jin D, Ma X. Ultrasonic-Enabled Nondestructive and Substrate-Independent Liquid Metal Ink Sintering. Adv Sci (Weinh) 2023; 10:e2301292. [PMID: 37316967 PMCID: PMC10427386 DOI: 10.1002/advs.202301292] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2023] [Revised: 05/19/2023] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Printing or patterning particle-based liquid metal (LM) ink is a good strategy to overcome poor wettability of LM for its circuits' preparation in flexible and printed electronics. Subsequently, a crucial step is to recover conductivity of LM circuits consisting of insulating LM micro/nano-particles. However, most widely used mechanical sintering methods based on hard contact such as pressing, may not be able to contact the LM patterns' whole surface conformally, leading to insufficient sintering in some areas. Hard contact may also break delicate shapes of the printed patterns. Hereby, an ultrasonic-assisted sintering strategy that can not only preserve original morphology of the LM circuits but also sinter circuits on various substrates of complex surface topography is proposed. The influencing factors of the ultrasonic sintering are investigated empirically and interpreted with theoretical understanding by simulation. LM circuits encapsulated inside soft elastomer are successfully sintered, proving feasibility in constructing stretchable or flexible electronics. By using water as energy transmission medium, remote sintering without any direct contact with substrate is achieved, which greatly protect LM circuits from mechanical damage. In virtue of such remote and non-contact manipulation manner, the ultrasonic sintering strategy would greatly advance the fabrication and application scenarios of LM electronics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sanhu Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Advanced Welding and JoiningHarbin Institute of TechnologyHarbin150001China
- School of Materials Science and EngineeringHarbin Institute of TechnologyHarbin150001China
| | - Zhiwu Xu
- State Key Laboratory of Advanced Welding and JoiningHarbin Institute of TechnologyHarbin150001China
- School of Materials Science and EngineeringHarbin Institute of TechnologyHarbin150001China
| | - Guoqiang Li
- Sauvage Laboratory for Smart MaterialsSchool of Materials Science and EngineeringHarbin Institute of Technology (Shenzhen)ShenzhenGuangdong518055China
| | - Zhengwei Li
- State Key Laboratory of Advanced Welding and JoiningHarbin Institute of TechnologyHarbin150001China
- School of Materials Science and EngineeringHarbin Institute of TechnologyHarbin150001China
| | - Zihan Ye
- Sauvage Laboratory for Smart MaterialsSchool of Materials Science and EngineeringHarbin Institute of Technology (Shenzhen)ShenzhenGuangdong518055China
| | - Zirong Xu
- State Key Laboratory of Advanced Welding and JoiningHarbin Institute of TechnologyHarbin150001China
- School of Materials Science and EngineeringHarbin Institute of TechnologyHarbin150001China
| | - Wenjun Chen
- Sauvage Laboratory for Smart MaterialsSchool of Materials Science and EngineeringHarbin Institute of Technology (Shenzhen)ShenzhenGuangdong518055China
| | - Dongdong Jin
- Sauvage Laboratory for Smart MaterialsSchool of Materials Science and EngineeringHarbin Institute of Technology (Shenzhen)ShenzhenGuangdong518055China
| | - Xing Ma
- State Key Laboratory of Advanced Welding and JoiningHarbin Institute of TechnologyHarbin150001China
- Sauvage Laboratory for Smart MaterialsSchool of Materials Science and EngineeringHarbin Institute of Technology (Shenzhen)ShenzhenGuangdong518055China
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Du P, Wang J, Hsu YI, Uyama H. Bio-Inspired Homogeneous Conductive Hydrogel with Flexibility and Adhesiveness for Information Transmission and Sign Language Recognition. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 2023; 15:23711-23724. [PMID: 37145870 DOI: 10.1021/acsami.3c02105] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Abstract
The wearable electronic technique is increasingly becoming an effective approach to overcoming the communication obstacles between signers and non-signers. However, the efficacy of conducting hydrogels currently proposed as flexible sensor devices is hindered by their poor processability and matrix mismatch, which frequently results in adhesion failure at the combined interfaces and deterioration of mechanical and electrochemical performance. Herein, we propose a hydrogel composed of a rigid matrix in which the hydrophobic and aggregated polyaniline was homogeneously embedded, while quaternate-functionalized nucleobase moieties endowed the flexible network with adhesiveness. Accordingly, the resulting hydrogel with chitosan-graft-polyaniline (chi-g-PANI) copolymers exhibited a promising conductivity (4.8 S·m-1) because of the uniformly dispersed polyaniline components and a high strain strength (0.84 MPa) because of the chain entanglement of chitosan after soaking. In addition, the modified adenine molecules not only realized synchronization in improving the stretchability (up to 1303%) and exhibiting a skin-like elastic modulus (≈184 kPa), but also provided a durable interfacial contact with various materials. The hydrogel was further fabricated into a strain-monitoring sensor for information encryption and sign language transmission based on its sensing stability and strain sensitivity of up to 2.77. The developed wearable sign language interpreting system provides an innovative strategy to assist auditory or speech-impaired people in communicating with non-signers using visual-gestural patterns including body movements and facial expressions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peng Du
- Department of Applied Chemistry, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan
| | - Juan Wang
- Department of Applied Chemistry, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan
| | - Yu-I Hsu
- Department of Applied Chemistry, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan
| | - Hiroshi Uyama
- Department of Applied Chemistry, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan
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Murakami K, Isano Y, Asada J, Usami N, Isoda Y, Takano T, Matsuda R, Ueno K, Fuchiwaki O, Ota H. Self-assembling bilayer wiring with highly conductive liquid metal and insulative ion gel layers. Sci Rep 2023; 13:5929. [PMID: 37045927 PMCID: PMC10097700 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-32580-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2023] [Accepted: 03/29/2023] [Indexed: 04/14/2023] Open
Abstract
Ga-based liquid metals (LMs) are expected to be suitable for wiring highly deformable devices because of their high electrical conductivity and stable resistance to extreme deformation. Injection and printed wiring, and wiring using LM-polymer composites are the most popular LM wiring approaches. However, additional processing is required to package the wiring after LM patterning, branch and interrupt wiring shape, and ensure adequate conductivity, which results in unnecessary wiring shape changes and increased complexity of the wiring methods. In this study, we propose an LM-polymer composite comprising LM particles and ion gel as a flexible matrix material with low viscosity and specific gravity before curing. Moreover, the casting method is used for wire patterning, and the material is cured at room temperature to ensure that the upper insulative layer of the ion gel self-assembles simultaneously with the formation of LM wiring in the lower layer. High conductivity and low resistance change rate of the formed wiring during deformation are achieved without an activation process. This ion gel-LM bilayer wiring can be used for three-dimensional wiring by stacking. Furthermore, circuits fabricated using ion gel-LM bilayer wiring exhibit stable operation. Therefore, the proposed method can significantly promote the development of flexible electronic devices.
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Affiliation(s)
- Koki Murakami
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Yokohama National University, 79-5, Tokiwadai, Hodogaya-Ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa, 240-8501, Japan
| | - Yuji Isano
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Yokohama National University, 79-5, Tokiwadai, Hodogaya-Ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa, 240-8501, Japan
| | - Juri Asada
- Department of Chemistry and Life Science, Yokohama National University, 79-5, Tokiwadai, Hodogaya-Ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa, 240-8501, Japan
| | - Natsuka Usami
- Department of Chemistry and Life Science, Yokohama National University, 79-5, Tokiwadai, Hodogaya-Ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa, 240-8501, Japan
| | - Yutaka Isoda
- Graduate School of System Integration, Yokohama National University, 79-5, Tokiwadai, Hodogaya-Ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa, 240-8501, Japan
| | - Tamami Takano
- Graduate School of System Integration, Yokohama National University, 79-5, Tokiwadai, Hodogaya-Ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa, 240-8501, Japan
| | - Ryosuke Matsuda
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Yokohama National University, 79-5, Tokiwadai, Hodogaya-Ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa, 240-8501, Japan
| | - Kazuhide Ueno
- Department of Chemistry and Life Science, Yokohama National University, 79-5, Tokiwadai, Hodogaya-Ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa, 240-8501, Japan
- Graduate School of Engineering, Yokohama National University, 79-5, Tokiwadai, Hodogaya-Ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa, 240-8501, Japan
| | - Ohmi Fuchiwaki
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Yokohama National University, 79-5, Tokiwadai, Hodogaya-Ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa, 240-8501, Japan.
- Graduate School of System Integration, Yokohama National University, 79-5, Tokiwadai, Hodogaya-Ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa, 240-8501, Japan.
| | - Hiroki Ota
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Yokohama National University, 79-5, Tokiwadai, Hodogaya-Ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa, 240-8501, Japan.
- Graduate School of System Integration, Yokohama National University, 79-5, Tokiwadai, Hodogaya-Ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa, 240-8501, Japan.
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Kim M, Lim H, Ko SH. Liquid Metal Patterning and Unique Properties for Next-Generation Soft Electronics. Adv Sci (Weinh) 2023; 10:e2205795. [PMID: 36642850 PMCID: PMC9951389 DOI: 10.1002/advs.202205795] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2022] [Revised: 11/27/2022] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
Abstract
Room-temperature liquid metal (LM)-based electronics is expected to bring advancements in future soft electronics owing to its conductivity, conformability, stretchability, and biocompatibility. However, various difficulties arise when patterning LM because of its rheological features such as fluidity and surface tension. Numerous attempts are made to overcome these difficulties, resulting in various LM-patterning methods. An appropriate choice of patterning method based on comprehensive understanding is necessary to fully utilize the unique properties. Therefore, the authors aim to provide thorough knowledge about patterning methods and unique properties for LM-based future soft electronics. First, essential considerations for LM-patterning are investigated. Then, LM-patterning methods-serial-patterning, parallel-patterning, intermetallic bond-assisted patterning, and molding/microfluidic injection-are categorized and investigated. Finally, perspectives on LM-based soft electronics with unique properties are provided. They include outstanding features of LM such as conformability, biocompatibility, permeability, restorability, and recyclability. Also, they include perspectives on future LM-based soft electronics in various areas such as radio frequency electronics, soft robots, and heterogeneous catalyst. LM-based soft devices are expected to permeate the daily lives if patterning methods and the aforementioned features are analyzed and utilized.
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Affiliation(s)
- Minwoo Kim
- Applied Nano and Thermal Science LabDepartment of Mechanical EngineeringSeoul National University1 Gwanak‐ro, Gwanak‐guSeoul08826South Korea
| | - Hyungjun Lim
- Applied Nano and Thermal Science LabDepartment of Mechanical EngineeringSeoul National University1 Gwanak‐ro, Gwanak‐guSeoul08826South Korea
- Department of Mechanical EngineeringPohang University of Science and Technology77 Chungam‐ro, Nam‐guPohang37673South Korea
| | - Seung Hwan Ko
- Applied Nano and Thermal Science LabDepartment of Mechanical EngineeringSeoul National University1 Gwanak‐ro, Gwanak‐guSeoul08826South Korea
- Institute of Advanced Machinery and Design/Institute of Engineering ResearchSeoul National University1 Gwanak‐ro, Gwanak‐guSeoul08826South Korea
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